Apparently American clothing stores are cutting their plus-sized clothing lines at the moment, even as the average American woman gets larger. Why? Because the mean size isn’t the important one. There’s an excellent explanation here: …it has to the do with the fact that the distribution of weights is skewed to the right. The costs […]
Is David Bain guilty of murder? No. That’s what a jury of our peers said on far better information than we now have. Did he kill people? Possibly. Does it matter? No. Our justice system is designed to acquit people when we cannot be sure of their guilt. In its design there is an implicit […]
William Easterly has a strong series of posts on his blog arguing that a dialogue in terms of rights doesn’t help the poor: The only useful definition of human rights is one where a human rights crusader could identify WHOSE rights are being violated and WHO is the violator. … Poverty does not fit this […]
A police officer was recently found guilty in a private prosecution of assaulting a man that she arrested. She arrested him on his driveway and, since she didn’t have the power to arrest him on private property, it counted as an assault on him. The judge found her guilty but discharged her without conviction. The […]
Everyone knows that big firms pay more: that’s why people want to work there. There are a few explanations as to why this might be the case. Maybe big firms make greater rents by exercising market power. maybe they can attract more skilled workers. Maybe there are economies of scale which make them more efficient […]
With the way the media view ‘price gouging’ I have no idea why Apple is so loved: Are they the best company in the world at price skimming? Apple Inc. halved the price of its entry-level iPhone to $99 and rolled out a next-generation model, looking to sustain the momentum for its popular smart phone […]